


Believe Me

by gh0stberry



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Confessions, Future Fic, Kissing, Love Letters, M/M, hinatas kinda just there sorry man, they're third years
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 21:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8464504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0stberry/pseuds/gh0stberry
Summary: “I am not running.”“You’re avoiding opening them.”“Because it is polite!” Tsukasa exclaims indignantly. “What if they wrote something personal? Do you wish me to play out their humiliation in front of you, Tori-kun? How cruel.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> i dont know what to say here...... thanks to emi for looking this over......... sorry i'm gay and predictable

Tori looks up as the door opens, already sure of who is stepping into the classroom by the sigh released as they close the door behind them.

“Tsukasa,” Tori says with his usual fake-detached politeness.

“Tori-kun,” Tsukasa returns the greeting in the same tone, dropping a stack of mail on his own desk.

Tori turns in his chair to get a better look at the massive pile of paper behind him. “That’s… a lot today.”

“Three days,” Tsukasa replies through gritted teeth. “I avoided Kunugi-sensei for three days, but he caught me today and dumped it all on me at once.” He collapses into his chair with a thunk.

Tori makes a small hum of acknowledgement, knowing his classmate will continue.

“Why do they send all the fan mail to the school, anyway?” Tsukasa gripes, lips twisted into a pout so reminiscent of his first year Tori almost does a double-take. “It may be an idol school, but it is still a school, not an idol agency.”

“You don’t have an agency,” Tori points out oh-so-helpfully. Tsukasa’s forehead hit his desk.

“Maybe I should not have tried to make Knights so popular outside of Yumenosaki by myself… Did this happen to you when we were first years? Did fine get this many letters?” Tsukasa looks up at Tori, vaguely desperate.

Tori can only shrug. “We might have? Who knows, though. Yuzuru’s been in charge of my mail for years, so all _my_ mail would’ve gone through him first.” Tsukasa glares at him, no doubt frustrated with Tori’s half answer. Tori gives him his best angelic smile back, completely with batted eyelashes, just to irk him more.

“Yo~!” Another voice breaks their concentration. Both boys turn to see Hinata skipping into the room. He lets out a low whistle when he sees Tsukasa’s desk, completely ignoring the way Tsukasa glowers at him too.

“Open ‘em, open ‘em! No one gets as much as you, Tsukasa, let us share in the experience,” Hinata laughs as he slings an arm around Tsukasa’s shoulder.

“You can take the experience,” a disgruntled Tsukasa sighs. “Why do all these people think they love me, anyway? They only know me on stage… and dating an idol would be troublesome too…”

Hinata snorts. “You talk like you know–” Tsukasa flushes immediately. “–and besides, can you blame them for trying? They just want to let their feelings be known, right? And to support you. They probably know it’s hopeless, just like you do.”

Tori nods along in silent agreement, carefully watching Tsukasa’s face cycle through colors and trying to ignore the way his stomach flip flops at Hinata’s insinuation.

Their teacher enters the room, then, leaving Hinata to scramble to his seat while Tori turns around and Tsukasa shoves the whole pile of mail haphazardly into his schoolbag. Kunugi-sensei doesn’t look sorry at all as he watches Tsukasa do it.

The day flies by, as it often does when Tori is swamped with schoolwork, idol work, and student council work, but the image of those letters on Tsukasa’s desk sits heavy in the back of his mind, a strange feeling fermenting in his stomach. He tries to ignore it, knowing it’ll help him focus if he does, but it’s hard. Hard to admit he’s still thinking about their conversation that morning, and hard to admit he’s jealous of people he doesn’t even know.

He’s almost through his stack of paperwork, sun setting and room empty around him, when the door slides open and Tsukasa leans in. “Is it too late to enter another S3 request?” he asks, voice light and teasing.

Tori huffs, but what’s one more piece of paper, really? He’d have to do it tomorrow if he doesn’t do it today, so he may as well get it over with. He holds out a hand imperiously, wordlessly answering his classmate’s question.

Tsukasa fishes the form out of his bag, dislodging a few envelopes in the process. Tori sees them fall in his peripheral vision. He takes the form and, staring intently at the paper without actually reading it, he tries to ask as casually as possible, “You haven’t opened them yet?”

Tsukasa frowns a little. “I will wait until I return home. Opening them in private seems only fair to the senders.”

“Oh? So you do care about their feelings…”

A flash of irritation crosses Tsukasa’s face, accompanied by Tori’s own wave of glee. Bickering seems to be their default state, not that Tori minds too much. Although he’d never admit it out loud, the meaningless barbs he and Tsukasa near constantly exchange leave him feeling strangely peaceful. Tsukasa pulls a chair over and sits down next to Tori’s desk to await his signature.

He rearranges and repacks his bag while Tori _actually_ reads the proposal.

“What you were saying earlier…” Tori starts, pen hovering above the paper. “About people only thinking they love you. Why did you say that?” He tries to sound just curious, but he must not have tried hard enough, because Tsukasa raises his eyebrows at him.

“You remember that?”

“Oh. Yeah.” He hopes he’s not turning red. “Because it was weird.”

Tsukasa sticks his tongue out at him, and after a moment’s hesitation, answers the question. “... I meant… Well, they say they love me, but they do not truly _know_ me, not like my classmates or my family or my unit does, right? They just see the act I put on for the interviewers and the camera.” Tsukasa’s hands are fisted in the handle of his bag, face suddenly drawn and upset. Guilt begins to prickle in the back of Tori’s throat. There’s something more to this than Tsukasa is saying, but he knows he shouldn’t prod him. But Tsukasa continues anyway, perhaps because he trusts Tori more than either of them realized. “I don’t believe they would like me if they knew this me, anyway.”

His words hit Tori like a slap in the face.

“This you? As in, the one who sticks his tongue out at the student council president and hoards sweets in the practice room and raised kittens in the archery dojo?” Tsukasa turns red, but his mouth turns up at the corners, just a little, and that’s enough. “You think too much,” Tori informs him. “And, say someone did know ‘this you’,” he starts. “What would you do if they confessed? Would you run away just like you are now?”

Tsukasa scowls, but he doesn’t seem upset anymore. The familiar spark of competition is back in his eyes.

“I am not running.”

“You’re avoiding opening them.”

“Because it is polite!” Tsukasa exclaims indignantly. “What if they wrote something personal? Do you wish me to play out their humiliation in front of you, Tori-kun? How cruel.”

Tori rolls his eyes and stands up, moving the rest of his paperwork to the cabinet and handing Tsukasa’s approved form back to him. He hoists himself onto his desktop and sits facing the room, letting his legs swing slowly from front to back and reveling in the act of doing something that would definitely earn him a horrified look from Yuzuru. They sit in silence for a few moments, Tori feigning boredom and Tsukasa fiddling with the corner of one of the envelopes, until Tori feels like he might be suffocating.

“Tsukasa,” Tori blurts out, startling the other boy. He looks up from the envelope with consternation.

Tori’s mouth seems to be moving ahead of his brain, bypassing any kind of filter he might’ve had, because in his mind, he’s cursing his own tactlessness, while the words, “Forget about the letters,” fall from his lips with practically unnatural ease.

Tsukasa looks confused, so Tori leans over, tugs him up from his chair, and pulls him around the desk until he’s standing in front of Tori, looking down on him carefully. Tori cups Tsukasa’s cheeks in his hands and repeats his words.

“Forget about the letters, Tsukasa. Look at me, instead, hm?” His voice is soft, fervent, but Tsukasa doesn’t look away. “Would you say I know you?” Tori asks.

“Why are you asking?” Tsukasa returns, voice uncharacteristically wobbly and face turning pink. Part of Tori hopes it’s the proximity (because, really, can he be blamed for hoping Tsukasa might actually feel the same?). The rest of him is catching up to his mouth, and, really, he’s already started, so he may as well finish this. Even if he completely embarrasses himself in the process.

“I’m trying to confess to you, stupid,” Tori hisses. There’s no need to whisper, but a regular voice feels too out of place now. “You said it yourself, it’ll never happen. But _I_ know you and _I_ like you, so forget about them and look at me.”

Tsukasa opens and closes his mouth, no sound escaping. Tori can practically see the gears turning in his head, trying to figure out if he’s lying, if he’s joking with him, how he’s supposed to answer Tori’s sudden confession. Slowly, Tori takes his hands away from Tsukasa’s face, meaning to let him go and leave and possibly never return, but Tsukasa catches him by the wrists and holds him there.

“You’re joking,” Tsukasa mutters. “Why do you like me? Even though we are competitors…?”

Tori turns back and almost shies away. There’s something fierce in Tsukasa’s eyes. Something he hasn’t seen in a long time.

“I’ll prove it to you.” Tsukasa looks doubtful and ready to argue, so Tori leans in quickly, with just enough time to pray Tsukasa doesn’t push him off the desk for what he’s about to do, and then he kisses him.

It’s beyond awkward at first. Tsukasa, stiff with surprise, doesn’t realize what’s happening, and Tori almost pulls away immediately, until, slowly, Tsukasa relaxes under him and drops his wrists. He doesn’t reciprocate, not at first, but he seems more than willing to be pliant and soft for Tori, surprisingly enough.

Tori's fingers come up to tangle in Tsukasa's hair, tugging roughly in an effort to drag him closer to the shorter boy. For once, Tori is thankful for the oppressively heavy wood of his student council desk. It's solid and unjudging beneath him as he kisses Tsukasa messily.

He doesn't know who moved first, or who escalated it, he just knows the taste of Tsukasa's tongue in his mouth and the feel of electric excitement rushing to his limbs. Tori could probably put on an entire live by himself without tiring, right now, if he were willing to let go of Tsukasa. He is not.

His lungs don’t get the memo though, and eventually they pull apart, panting and red faced. Tsukasa’s hair is sticking out at a few odd angles and he’s swaying a little where he stands.

“Do you believe me now?” Tori demands, but there’s no bite to his words. That’s impossible, when he’s still gasping for air and his hands are gripping Tsukasa’s blazer. 

“I… Okay,” Tsukasa accedes. “I believe you.”

“Good.” Tori stares at his hands. “I’m sorry. For kissing you without asking.”

“Ah, well…” Tsukasa trails off, gently disentangling Tori’s fingers from his jacket and twining them together with his own instead. “Apology accepted. I didn’t mind… that time, at least. You could even kiss me again, I suppose. As an added apology.”

“Subtle.” It’s Tori’s turn to stick his tongue out as his classmate, which, in retrospect, may have been a bad idea, because Tsukasa leans forward and kisses him before he can withdraw his tongue. Tori squeals into the kiss, then Tsukasa breaks into laughter and the whole thing falls apart.

“You suck!” Tori squawks, voice rising. Tsukasa can barely respond between laughs.

“I thought you said you liked me?”

“I do, mostly!”

“Mostly?!” And now Tori’s laughing too. He lets himself slide off the desk and fall forward into his arms as Tsukasa tugs on his hand. Tori stays like that, with Tsukasa’s arms around him, for a few moments before lifting his head to look Tsukasa in the eyes.

“Walk home with me.”

Tsukasa pretends to think about it. “Deal.”


End file.
